topic Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line. in Community Chat

I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

KathyPet — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:14:32 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I had a call on our land line from a number that displayed as my husband's office. I answered it and it was a automated robo call. Today a call came in and the caller ID showed it as our own land line number. I did not pick up and as soon as the answering machine started the call disconnected. I know others of you have had this happen. I am just sick to death of calls from telemarketers with "unavailable" showing as the numbered . I don't answer of course but if our answering machine picks up the call disconnects but leaves it showing as a message received which I then have to delete. I think 75% of the calls are from charities or telemarketers. I am fed up with it. The Do Not Call Registry is a absolute joke that we pay taxes for. The telephone companies cannot keep up with the technology these creeps use to spoof the number they are calling from. I am sick to death of it. DH and I each have cell phones and I see no reason to continue to pay for a land line that is used primarily to annoy me.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

MaggieToo — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:16:56 GMT

" I see no reason to continue to pay for a land line that is used primarily to annoy me."

That is exactly why I got rid of mine.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

JustJazzmom — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:24:39 GMT

Time to use nomorobo and it stops all these annoying calls from going through.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

kdgn — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:25:05 GMT

Hate to tell you this but cell phones are getting the robo calls and such too. That's where I got the call that identified the caller as myself and the phone number as 000-000-0000. I didn't answer it but the number of calls on my cell phone are annoying. I get text messages too telling me I've won vacations-

As annoying as my landline can be with regards to the robo calls, I still find that handset more comfortable to use than a cell phone. Reception is better too.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

ROMARY — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:25:16 GMT

Only when most of us cancel our landlines will 'they' put an end to these calls. Supply and demand.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

dooBdoo — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:25:46 GMT

KathyPet, I can understand your feelings. Before you drop the landline service, however, you might want to check with your provider about the continuing, free-of-charge 911 service.

In most locations even if you disconnect your traditional landline the provider will continue what they call a "soft connection" (at no cost to you) which allows 911 calls only. I believe it's part of a "Do Not Disconnect" policy in some states or with some providers for emergency preparedness.

So, you can keep at least one phone plugged in and know it's there for emergency calls. You can check with your provider to find out if this is true in your locale.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

dooBdoo — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:28:12 GMT

On 12/26/2014 JustJazzmom said:
Time to use nomorobo and it stops all these annoying calls from going through.

This is true, but unfortunately it's not available everywhere and doesn't work with some types of phone technology. The more who ask for it, however, the more the program will expand.

Nomorobo

https://www.nomorobo.com/

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

Group 5 minus 1 — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:31:19 GMT

Our land line telephone gives the choice to block calls. At this point we have 30 blocked. We also have caller ID which is great.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

Clover29 — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:46:09 GMT

We moved and got a new unlisted number. There were some calls around election time, but on the whole, we haven't had any "junk" calls in over six months. I picked up one time when I was expecting a call, and it wasn't who I expected, but it was just a wrong number. Some sweet old lady babbling away in Spanish.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

chickenbutt — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:48:08 GMT

On 12/26/2014 dooBdoo said:
On 12/26/2014 JustJazzmom said:
Time to use nomorobo and it stops all these annoying calls from going through.

This is true, but unfortunately it's not available everywhere and doesn't work with some types of phone technology. The more who ask for it, however, the more the program will expand.

Nomorobo

https://www.nomorobo.com/

Yeah, that's the bummer. When I first read about it, of course (telemarketing is the bane of my existence!), I looked into it and you can't use it with ATT in my market.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

ROMARY — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:52:07 GMT

dooBdoo: Great idea! Are calls to the power/electric/gas companies included? Sometimes they won't accept power outage calls unless we have our gas/electric/power bill account number handy. But, they will automatically respond to landlines.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

KathyPet — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:52:45 GMT

Version customers cannot use nomorobo.. Yes I can block numbers but the numbers change constantly so you can block a number today and tomorrow the telemarketer uses a different number.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

shesallthat — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:55:26 GMT

On 12/26/2014 MaggieToo said:
"I see no reason to continue to pay for a land line that is used primarily to annoy me."

That is exactly why I got rid of mine.

and exactly why we got rid of ours,too! have not had a landline for over 10 years.

over a $100 a month and we had the call blocking and caller ID,too. the last straw for my DH was when some guy called insisting that he had the right number and that the woman he was looking for was here and he knew it!

i have not got any of these type calls on my cellphone!

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

dooBdoo — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:05:31 GMT

On 12/26/2014 ROMARY 1 said:
dooBdoo: Great idea! Are calls to the power/electric/gas companies included? Sometimes they won't accept power outage calls unless we have our gas/electric/power bill account number handy. But, they will automatically respond to landlines.

Hi, Romary! No, it's part of the 911 emergency preparedness program so only 911 calls are permitted. But I still think it's a wonderful service.

Regarding calls to utility companies, however, sometimes if you add your cell phone number to your account information on their website you can reference that when you call.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

ROMARY — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:27:24 GMT

THANK YOU, DOOBDOO! That does make a lot of sense. Hadn't thought of that! (As usual)

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

brii — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:17:51 GMT

That's on my list of things to do. I can count on one hand the number of times I use the landline.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

kze — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:31:12 GMT

NOMOROBO is getting ready to do testing on cell phones soon. Time Warner Cable phones didn't work for a while but does now.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

Marp2 — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:37:24 GMT

Even though this is from 2013 it provides something to think about:

7 Ways Telemarketers Get Your Cell Phone Number

If you’re in the shrinking pool of people who still have a land line, you’re most likely inundated with calls from telemarketers.

But your cell phone is different, right? You may have registered on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry and maybe you know regulations exist that limit the ways debt collectors and companies selling things can pester you on your cell phone.

That kind of thinking isn’t grounded in reality and, unfortunately, a growing number of telemarketing companies don’t care about lists and legislation and will harass you with unwanted calls and texts on your mobile phone anyway. In fact, one tech analyst recently estimated as many as 100 billion robocalls—those lacking a human being on the other end—and other solicitations are made to cell phones in the U.S. every year.

But how do telemarketers get your phone number anyway? You might be surprised.

http://www.techlicious.com/tip/7-ways-telemarketers-get-your-cell-phone-number/

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

lovescats — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 02:05:19 GMT

I wouldn't waste my time blocking the phone numbers because when they call from a call center everyone working there is going to have a different phone number.

Re: I'm sick of these calls-giving up my land line.

bikerbabe — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 02:13:13 GMT

10 years from now landlines will join the dinosaurs. Extinct. I dumped mine and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.